AAR Dynamic Shooter Aid 2 @ San Berdnardino Oct 13-15, 2010 (Medical w/ Live Fire)

Dealers/ Manufacturers/ Regional/ Info Magpul CORE
1

Hello again to all,

We at the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Dept were blessed to once again host Magpul Dynamics for yet another class. This time it was the “Dynamic Shooter Aid 2” class, which we ran on October 13-15, 2010.

This followed on in the theme of further preparing our LEO’s and Military for the day when they may have to confront an active shooter situation. The class was primarily instructed by Kerry Davis (pict. below). Kerry represents the “Dynamic” aspect of Magpul in every way, his expertise is however in the medical area. The class description is as follows.

HVWM AAR https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=47912

Shooter Aid 2 Course
3 day course Live Fire
Pre-requisites: Active/Reserve Mil/LEO. (Requirement due to S.B.S.D. range policy)
Price: $600 Contact us for more information
Course Description When things go wrong in a hostile environment are you prepared mentally, physically and medically? Focused on all of the basic “stay alive” trauma management skills, this is a fast-paced, hands-on course that blends weapons manipulation and traumatic injury treatment in a variety of high risk scenarios based on real-life incidents. Students will be expected to utilize their equipment while under stress to “save” critically injured team members.

• Physiological and Psychological reactions to environmental stress
• The importance of having the proper Combat Mindset
• Basic Anatomy and Physiology of life-sustaining systems
• H, A, B, C’s—Hemorrhage, Airway, Breathing, Circulation
• Breakdown and usage of Individual Med Kit components
• Proper stowage and employment of the IMK
• Hands-on application of the IMK
• Basic and Advanced Airway management -treating and monitoring tension pneumothorax (familiarization with chest decompression), sucking chest wound and flail chest
• Airway adjunct device placement-Nasopharyngeal Airway
• Basic First Aid and Advanced wound care
• Application of Bandages and Hemostatic Agents
• Application of tourniquets
• Recognition and Treatment of various injuries (Gunshot, Laceration, Burn, Airway, Head, Orthopedic, Environmental)
• Recognition and treatment of hypovolemic (hemorrhagic) shock
• Moving and positioning victims with various injuries
• Response to hyperviolent shooter situation
• Proper use of cover and cover vs. concealment
• Casualty recovery in an Active Shooter situation
• One-handed manipulation of dummy and live weapons systems and medical kit
• Mass casualty triage procedure
• Emergency Medical Dialect/Lingo (911 protocol, cooperation with LE, Fire and EMS and First Responders)

The course culminates in a graded qualification and stress-fire exercise.

Hardware/Kit
• Note pad and pen/pencil/Sharpie
• Individual First Aid Kit
• Clothing suited to strenuous type activity as well as being seasonally appropriate
• Appropriate foot wear
• Rain gear / cold weather gear (seasonal)
• Ear pro (electronic preferred)
• Eye pro, which wraps around
• Baseball style hat recommended
• Primary weapon sling, single point, or a good system that allows flexibility for transitions and reaction side weapon manipulations
• A rig that can carry a minimum of four (4) primary magazines on your person
• Functioning secondary weapon system, and three working magazines
• A holster and magazine pouch that will retain your equipment when moving
• Tools that work on your weapon
• Weapons lube
• Optics with necessary adjustment tools and spare batteries
• Water hydrating device
• Sunscreen and lip balm
• Knee and Elbow pads (optional)
• Gloves (optional)
• 300 rounds Carbine/250 rounds Pistol

Most importantly, bring an open mind!!!

Our instructor

2

Day 1

This first day was spent entirely in the classroom. This was the time to go over the “theory” of everything to be addressed. There was a significant amount of information disseminated and I must admitt to a weee headache at the end of the day. I learned so much this day about how the body functions, however with Kerry’s style I think most of it stuck. I am sure all my biology classes and cpr/first aid classes covered some of this, but it never was effectivley taught. I now realize how sadly inadequate my training to date has been.

Topics covered included:

H.A.B.C.'s

  1. Hemorage control to include tourniquets, hemostatic agents, wound packing and pressure bandaging.
  2. Airway management to include the use of the NPA.
  3. Breathing which also covered the subject of the different forms of pneumothorax, its causes and needed care (oclusive dressings etc).
  4. Circulation was covered with various diagnostic techniques covered, along with a very informative explanation of the circulatory system.

There was also extensive coverage of other topics such as the diagnosis, effects and treatment/care of shock. Traumatic brain injuries, enviromental injuries and other things such as fractures were discussed.

A lot of this information unfortunately has a foundation in real life experience derived from lessons learned in the fields of combat (O.I.F. AND O.E.F.). Examples of cases from the “sand box” were extensively used to articulate not only the validity of what was being taught, but for me, to illustrate just how much our bodies can survive given a proper combat mindset, will to survive and solid treatment.

Every student was given a manual to follow along with and take notes. Kerry also made use of a power point and videos to mirror the manual and support his lecture, which was forever lightened by one of his MANY (lol) one line sayings… see Conclusions section for eg.

A lot of gear was brought and laid out for students to see, handle and demonstrate. The apparent favorite hemostatic agent was the CELOX brand, for which we had I believe, every single product they make on display.

3

Day 2

We started the day off covering any “theory” loose ends from the previous day.

From there the instruction moved into a classroom level of demonstration and practice of previously described subjects and techniques.

For HEMORAGE control Kerry had purchased various meat products, which Drake took out on the range to induce various wound cavities. Kerry also had all of the popular tourniquets on the market. We practiced placing tourniquets on others and one handed on ourselves. The meat was used for practice in packing wounds as well as demonstrating the effectivness of a couple of chest seals, the most impressive of which was the HALO. The meat also got a dose of a certain (old formulae) of hemostatic agent to demonstrate the heat generated and why the newer low heat formulae or other brands should be used.

Various techniques for AIRWAY management were also demonstrated and practiced. The use of the NPA was demonstrated and students were able to practice on a dummy head Kerry had brought.

BREATHING was also covered again, to include use of various masks etc, most of which all of us were already familiar with.

CIRCULATION was covered again with every one taking each others pulse, checking circulation and various diagnostic techniques used for this.

Kerry also demonstrated various forms of splinting orthopedic injuries and body positioning for various conditions.

4

Day 3

This day was about putting it all together in pratical scenarious designed to emulate the stress of a real life situation as best possible without compromise of safety. A quick thankyou here to the profesional oversight of the Magpul guys and the attention to safety by the students, as we had yet another incident free Magpul class. A helicopter landing in our “LZ” would have been just too much realism.

The day started out with basic firearms manipulation just to get those skills aired out and warmed up for the rest of the days excercises.

The day then progressed into running excercises and scenarios. These began with simple individual scenarios where one might engage a threat and then be “hit” at which point they would do a one handed tourniquet application and then reingage the threat. The progression moved onto multiple shooters engaging in “rescue” operations in which the threat suppression and medical treatment problems became more and more difficult. The final excercise of the day got quite complicated when the instructors were right over head constantly adding more stress and medical complication to the problems at hand, to include adding new casualties (other team mates) mid excercise.

Team work and communication were of course key in smooth and successful completion of the “mission”, as is always the case. Every one did well in this area with only the occasional reminder from the instructors. I do believe I speak for all when I say that I came away with a new confidence in my abilities to deal with a traumatic injury to myself and or my team mates during the course of any future hostile encounter.

We all got major filthy on day 3 as you can see in the pictures. I went home and in the process of ditching my dirty clothes in the garage, literally left a small pile of dirt on the floor. Sorry, Kerry, but my wife said I am not allowed to play with you anymore… LOL

5

Conclusions

My overall thought is that I learned just how much I did not know to begin with. I believe I learned more about how the human body works and more importantly, how to keep it alive, than I have learned in 20+ LEO years of mandated CPR/1st Aid training. Out of 13 students I did not hear one decible of doubt about what was being taught and its potential value if some day fate should ever turn against us.

I really enjoyed the total kinship between all those who attended. There were no egos, just a lot of good guys working together as a team with a like purpose and drive. These were definitely what Ltc Grossman would term as “Sheep Dogs”

Kerry’s favorite saying…“Its like throwing a PEZ candy at a fat man”, his way of saying its pointless and ineffective is way I took it… LOL

6

Last but not least… A BIG shout out of gratitude to the following…

Magpul Dynamics:
Thanx guys for recognizing a need and gap in todays training enviroment. Your efforts to fill this need have in my mind been a huge success. It was once again a pleasure working with you guys.

San Bernardino County Sheriff:
For once again providing a great training enviroment at the range, for bettering the training and experience of some truely dedicated “Sheep Dogs”.

SAM Medical Supply:
These guys were our only outside corporate donator, and they really came through!

They sent us a bunch of CELOX product. We were able to use these products in conjunction with all the CELOX that Kerry brought with him to thoroughly cover the diverse applications of hemostatic agents. They sent us enough product that we were also able to send every student home with some CELOX for their own kit.

Persys Medical:
Brandon Brien came out and in addition to helping with the class braught plenty of “Israeli” type bandages for demo and use.

FINALLY, I realize that there may be things I have forgotten to include here, or perspectives that other students may have. I welcome any additional input from those who were there and please feel free to add any pictures you may have.

7

Rob,

Thanks again for being such a gracious host. This is twice this year that you have ramrodded a Magpul class at the SBCSO Academy. I found the training and facilities first rate and the opportunity for training with officers and deputies from other departments to be invaluable. Kudos to you and Magpul.

Also, thanks for the pics!

Stay safe,

Ken

8

Rob,
Thanks for the fantastic job of hosting this class and the AAR. We were happy to get to field this class to some familiar faces from this past Feb and some new ones as well.
The facilities were great and the camaraderie was the best. Everyone came with the desire to learn and had safety first and foremost on their minds.
We’re excited about this new addition to the Dynamics course catalog and want to present it to as many people as possible. It’s all about making a difference in lives, adding valuable skillsets and being a positive contributor to society.
Again, thank you. We hope to see y’all again soon!
Best regards,
JM